


Dismantling the pedestals

by Krispo



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bamf marinette, Denial, Dorks in Love, F/M, Fluff, Flustered Adrien Agreste, Friendship/Love, How Do I Tag, Identity Reveal, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Will add tags as I go, reverse love square
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2019-12-30 04:24:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18308144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krispo/pseuds/Krispo
Summary: Marinette finds out about Adrien's crush on LadyBug, and she and Chat Noir have a much needed heart to heart.Featuring most sides of the love square as these dorks get to know each other on all sides of the mask.





	1. heart to heart

LadyBug sat on a beam, high on the Eiffel Tower, hidden away where no one else could see her. But from her vantage point she could look out over the whole city. She hugged her legs up close to her chest and sat her chin on top of her knees. Staring out at the city at nothing in particular, but trying to let her mind empty out and clear from a very emotional day. Before long she heard her partner climbing the beams underneath her, she would recognize his noises anywhere.

“Good evening m’lady, and how are we this beautiful ….. Bug, what’s wrong!?”  
He took one look at her and knew something was bothering her. He sat beside her and nudged her with his shoulder. “Come on LB, talk to me, what’s happening” 

“Oh, it’s just civilian stuff ChatNoir …. It was just a weird, long, emotional weekend. I don’t even know if I can talk about it right now because I’m not even sure how I feel about it all yet, you know?” 

“Ah, I see” He slung an arm around her shoulders and kicked his legs out over the side of the beam that they were perched on “Sometimes talking about it can help, I’m all ears” He wiggled his black cat ears and smiled when she giggled at him.

“ I’m not sure if you even want to hear all this, but I honestly have no one else to talk about this to who would understand” she took a deep breath and looked at him carefully before she started “Have you ever had someone feel a certain way about you as Chat Noir, but then they feel very differently about you as whoever you are under the mask?”

Chat Noirs eyebrows furrowed slightly “I guess? I mean, my childhood friend is always throwing herself at the civilian me, but I’ve heard her refer to Chat Noir as ‘ladybugs useless sidekick’ on more than one occasion” he shrugged “I don’t really take it personally though to be honest”

“Here’s the thing” she started, eyeing him carefully “ I’ve always tried really hard to protect my identity. I’ve been so careful about keeping Ladybug seperate from my regular life. It has never bothered me before when my family and close friends don’t recognize me, you know? Lady bug has talked face to face with my parents and they don’t recognize me! My best friend is a huge Ladybug fangirl and she doesn’t even know its me. But that’s good. I’m glad they don’t make any connections between the two because I want to keep them safe, right?!”

She took a deep breath and looked CHat Noir in the eyes, appearing to have an internal debate with herself, wether or not to actually come out and say what she wanted to say. She sighed and turned her body towards him.

“Ok, so you remember that guy I told you about who I like?” she saw him frown out of the corner of her eye and felt a pang of guilt “ I found out recently that he is apparently in love with LadyBug”  
Chat Noir got a look of confusion on his face and turned toward her. Mirroring her crossed leg position until they were knee to knee.

“But …. You are LadyBug, shouldn’t you be happy about that?”

“Well I am in a way. I mean, yay, he likes me back! but what am I supposed to do with that information? I can’t exactly date him like this because it would be dangerous and what kind of relationship is that when we would have to hide all the time? And he wouldn’t even know who I was. I would feel like I was tricking him or lying to him or something. And secret identities are a thing, I can’t just tell him who I am. So him dating LadyBug isn’t an option” She shrugged her shoulders a little and started fiddling with her fingers a little in a nervous way that reminded chat noir of another certain pig-tail wearing friend. “ And then I thought, well why not try asking him out as me, you know? So I tried …..” her voice got very quiet “ and he turned me down” she took a deep breath but she could feel a stray tear break free and make its way down her face. 

 

“WHAT?! Are you telling me, that there is a guy out there right now who is in love with ladybug but ladybug asked him out and he turned her down? Listen, bug, I know you don’t want me to hurt him, but do you want me to let Plagg loose in his bedroom or something? He can do some serious damage”

She giggled at the thought of all the trouble Plagg could get into in Adrien’s room but shook her head and reached out to grab his hands, holding them in her own. .

“He was nice about it at least. I mean we are friends and he told me how important I was to him. He can’t help how he feels I guess but it’s just a weird feeling to get turned down for yourself, you know? Like am I supposed to be jealous of myself?” She chuckled sadly and turned to face the city again, leaning up against his side. He pulled his arm around her and hugged her into his side. “ I mean, does he actually like me even? He says he loves Ladybug, but I’m standing right there in front of him and he doesn’t see me!” 

She sighed loudly, almost groaning.  
“Anyway. Thanks for listening Kitty. I still don’t really know what to do, but it did feel better to talk about it” 

“No problem M’lady. You know, I do know how you feel actually. In my civilian life … I get a lot of attention, but people don’t really know the real me? You know? They just know the image that I have to portray or they like me for the connections that I have. It’s lonely sometimes, to be honest. I have a few good friends that I really care about but sometimes I still don’t think they even know the real me. I feel more like myself when Im like this” he pointed at himself “. I don’t have to maintain a reputation, I don’t have to pretend to be what they want me to be” He trailed off and looked down at his lap. She looked up at him with sad eyes, wrapped her arms around his back.

“Do you mind if we skip patrol tonight Kitty? I think I’d like to just sit here with you for a while if thats ok”

“You read my mind bugaboo. Its like were made for eachother” he joked

She laughed and laid her head on his shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her into his side and put his head on top of hers. They sat for a while in silence, just watching over the city together. 

“So, this idiot who turned you down today?”

“He’s not an idiot Kitty”

“Ok ok fine. You said he was nice about it? I mean do you think you can still be friends with him?”

“I’d really like to be, Why?”

“Well it so happens that I had something similar happen today. A friend of mine confessed her feelings for me, and I mean, she’s amazing, she reminds me of you to be honest. But I gave my heart to you a long time ago, you know? I tried to be nice about it because she’s important to me and I don’t want to lose her as a friend. Like she used to be so uncomfortable around me and we’ve finally started getting really close and I don’t want to lose that, you know? So from a girls point of view, what should I do so that she will still be my friend?”

LadyBug looked up at him, poking him in the ribs with her finger “look at you, you heart breaker” she giggled “who would have thought?”

“If only you knew m’lady” he smirked playfully before looking at her seriously “but honestly. I don’t want her to avoid me now, I really do want to be her friend. I’d be pretty heartbroken if I couldn’t hang out with her anymore”

“Well, give her some space for a while Chat. But tell her what you just told me, ok? If she is as amazing as you say, then I’m sure she will want to stay friends too” 

He smiled gratefuly and nodded.

“Alright back to this idiot”

“Kitty” she warned. He held his hands up in surrender and laughed

“Why do you think he can’t recognize you? Or your parents or best friends? Why don’t they recognize you as ladybug? I’ve talked to my kwami about stuff like this before and Plagg isn’t at all helpful. He mentioned that there was magic involved but that it really wasn’t all that strong, most of the time he said people just don’t want to make the connections between identities”

“I’ve never talked to Tikki about that actually, maybe I should ask her later when I get home”

For some reason the thought of Ladybugs crush and family and friends not recognizing her really bothered Chat noir. Those were the people who loved her the most in the world, they were with her everyday! How could they not recognize her? Surely she is just as amazing under the mask as she is with the mask! He always wanted to believe that his love for ladybug was strong enough that he would recognize her without the mask, but all this talk tonight had planted some seeds of doubt into his mind. After all, if her own parents couldn’t recognize her, what chance did he have? She could have been under his nose this whole time and he wouldn’t not have known it was her! 

“ Are you different under the mask LB? Do you act differently I mean?” he scratched the back of his neck “ I know I feel much freer as chat noir. I act bolder and more carefree because I can. I don’t have an image to uphold, I dont have anyone to answer to or people expecting certain things of me. It’s still me, but …… free. Is it like that for you too?”

Ladybug silently considered for a moment

“No, it’s kind of the opposite actually. I love being LadyBug, but there’s a lot of pressure you know? I’m the only one who can purify the akuma, everyone has such trust in me to save them. It’s a lot of pressure sometimes to always be perfect and never mess up or else Hawkmoth will win” she was silent for a moment while she contemplated “ I don’t act different on purpose, but I understand why no one recognizes me. I’m a huge klutz. I trip on air. I get anxious and I panic over little things ….. I just ……. LadyBug is me, I’m not acting differently on purpose, but I don’t exactly have a need to be all heroic when I’m sitting in math class, You know? Most of the time I’m just trying to be normal and spend time with my friends and help my parents and do school work … just be normal. So that’s all they ever see from civilian me. All anyone sees Ladybug do is ride dragons, and jump in T-rex’s mouths and save the day. I can understand why no one makes the connection between us”

She shrugged a shoulder and looked down at her hands.

Adriends brain was on overload. It was like his whole reality was shifting. He felt an extreme amount of guilt, realizing that he too had held LadyBug up on a golden pedestal. Never allowing himself to see her as a whole person with faults and complexities. The things that had always made him uncomfortable about his more ‘enthusiastic’ fans was the same things he was doing to ladybug. He hated being overlooked and only being seen for his fame and wealth and connections, he hated when people expected him to be a certain way and never treated him like a human being. And that is exactly how LadyBug felt too, and he helped to contribute to that feeling. He believed in her with all his heart but he had to admit to himself that he had contributed to the pressure that she felt and he overlooked her more human realistic side. He felt awful. He promised himself he would do better. 

He shook his head, jumped to his feet and took LadyBugs hands to pull her up to standing in front of him. “Enough depressing thoughts! Lets go get something to eat. My treat!”

She raised an eyebrow at him 

“Not a date” he held his hands up “there’s a delicious 24 hour sushi place near by. Do you like sushi? I feel like I could eat my weight in sushi. Let’s go be normal for an hour, what do you say ? ”

She smiled up at him softly. She couldn’t help but be impressed by how he handled this whole conversation. She was sure that he wouldn’t want to hear about her crush, or that he would be petty about it. But he was so … supportive … he didn’t try to flirt extra hard like she thought he would, seeing some opportunity now that she had been rejected. He was mature and supportive and caring. She felt incredibly grateful that she had him as a friend and a partner. Normally she would absolutely refuse to spend time with him outside of akuma attacks or patrol but something was different tonight and she felt sure that she needed his company tonight.

“Alright kitty, you’re on. Lead the way!”

“Really!?!” his smile could have lit up half of Paris and it made ladybug smile and laugh in return. “Yes really, silly cat. Lets go!”

\-----

Marinette arrived home in the early hours of the morning, and while she was exhausted, she couldn’t seem to fall asleep. All she could think of was the things that chat noir had said. She had no idea he felt so lonely and isolated all the time. She wondered if Adrien ever felt the same way because of the attention from fans and people trying to use him to get to his Father. She felt a wave of sadness for both blond boys - young men- and a sense of guilt for not really trying to understand chat noir more than she did. He was her best friend and she trusted him with her life. Heck he had sacrificed his life for her on multiple occasions. But she really didn’t ever take the time to know him, always trying to keep a professional distance, always keeping her identity as her highest priority. She knew now that she had to loosen up on that a little bit. She knew she wasn’t ready for an identity reveal yet. Not until Hawkmoth was defeated. But she promised herself that she would try to talk to chat noir more often, try to bond with him in a way that wouldn’t risk their safety. She didn’t know how yet but she was determined to make it work. She also knew she had to take Adrien down off the pedestal she had placed him on, if he was as lonely and isolated as chat noir said he was, she was determined to get to know him as a friend first and foremost before she even thought about confessing feelings. Eventually Marinette’s tiredness overcame her worries and she drifted off into a sleep that did not last nearly long enough.

Adrien’s night went about the same. Laying on his bed, listening to Plagg’s snore from where he was curled up with a dirty sock, he stared at the ceiling in the darkness thinking about everything that had happened today. Marinette’s confession of her feelings had come as a huge shock. He was so sure she had a thing going with Luka. He had often thought that Marinette reminded him of Ladybug, she was a natural leader and she was always going out of her way to help her friends. He really admired her talents and her courage. He was impressed with the amount of courage it must have taken her to confess her feelings, she was normally quite shy around him (and now he knew why) so for her to ask him out must have taken some guts. He was heartbroken to have to tell her that his heart already belonged to someone else, he told her how important her friendship was to him and how he didn’t want to lose that, and how amazing he thought she was. But the look on her face when he turned her down made him hate himself. A shy hope, turned to eyes fighting back tears and a smile just barely holding on before she quickly excused herself and walked away. She didn’t meet his eye for the rest of the day and he felt so guilty. Ladybug was the only thing standing in the way of him falling for her. He could admit that to himself. She was gorgeous and talented and fun to hang out with, she was so stubborn and strong-willed and courageous. He could admit to himself that if anyone was going to steal his heart from ladybug it would be Marinette. But he just wasn’t ready to let go of ladybug quite yet. And speaking of ladybug. He also felt guilty for putting her up on a pedestal and expecting perfection from her, he knew he loved her with all his heart but he also knew he had to back off a little bit. He had to start seeing her as a human being and stop idolizing her so much. He went to sleep that night thinking of ways to try and make Marinette feel better and of trying to give Ladybug a bit more space.


	2. Everyday Ladybug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette talk for the first time since he turned her down and he starts seeing her in a new light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kids are aged up here. 18 years old, and almost done school. They are all still in the same class though ... it makes no sense but just go with me here ok?   
> I hate writing action/fight sequences .... so just let your imagination run wild alright?

Marinette took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as she marched up the stairs to the school as confidently as she could. ‘He’s right inside’ she kept repeating to herself ‘he’s right inside those doors. You can do this Marinette’ Her heart beat faster and faster as she got closer and closer to where she knew Adrien would be waiting for her. 

She had found out about Adrien’s crush on LadyBug on a Friday, and had unsuccessfully asked him out on a Saturday morning. Marinette had been confused and a little sad about it, but after talking to Chat Noir about it on Saturday night, she realized that she hadn’t really ever given him the chance to know her properly and she had never gotten to know him really either.   
And so, with a renewed sense of hopeful confidence, she had vowed to herself that she would take the time to see the real Adrien and let Adrien see the real Marinette. She had also vowed to let Chat Noir get a little closer as well, though, that thought still scared her more than she cared to admit. As she was walking through the school lost in thought about her partner, she arrived at her lockers.

“Hey, Marinette!” came the cheerful voice infront of her. Marinette squeaked at his sudden appearance at her locker. How did he keep doing that? She put her hand over her heart and took a deep breath to calm her heart down.

“You scared me!” She tried to smile up at him, but ultimately wasn’t able to hold his eyes for very long and looked down at her hands, twisting them in front of her. “You …. Um …. You wanted to talk to me?” She asked quietly, unable to keep the hesitation out of her voice.

“Hey” he called softly, putting both hands on her shoulders and bending down a little to catch her eyes “I know I said all this the other day, but I just need to tell you again how amazing I think you are Marinette. Honestly, you are one of the most wonderful people I know and I would love to spend more time with you to get to know you better …. That is …. If you still want to be around me?” he let go of her shoulders and shrugged a little “ I can understand if you need to have a little space from me right now ….. I just hope you still want to be friends? You were one of the first friends I ever made since I came to school and I would be heartbroken if we couldn’t hang out anymore” He reached up and scratched the back of his neck and a slight blush reached his face “Do you … um … I mean … when you are feeling up to it, do you want to come over and play video games or something sometime? Or we could go see a movie or whatever else you want to do …….” 

Marinette looked up at his hopeful face and shy smile and cursed her own heart for flipping so quickly. ‘There is no way I could stop crushing on him so hard when he is that adorable!’ she thought to herself.

He laughed and pulled her into a hug.  
“I’ll try to stop being so adorable”

“Ugh crap, I said that out loud didn’t I?” She mumbled into his chest. She felt him nod and laugh again. He pulled away and looked at her seriously.

“Are we ok?”He put his hands up in prayer

She smiled for real this time and met his eyes. “Yes, you dork. We’re ok” she laughed and reached over to rest her hand gently on his arm. “And listen, you don’t have to worry about giving me space ok? We’re friends and I don’t want you to feel like you have to avoid me or anything”  
He beamed at her and picked up his school bag “ok good. Because that would have sucked” They laughed and slung their bags over their shoulders and started off to class. 

Adrien felt happier than he had in a long time as they walked to class together. He had been worrying about Marinette since Saturday. The thought of not being her friend anymore did not sit well with him at all. So he had texted her earlier that morning to ask if he could meet her before class. He had been nervous about what she might say or do, but now he wondered how he could have ever doubted someone like her would be anything short of amazing. It had been heart wrenching to tell her that he had feelings for someone else, but even more heart wrenching to think of her hating him. 

As they walked to class together he felt light and happy, without a care in the world.

“Oh! I just remembered!” he said suddenly, breaking their silent walk to class “There’s this fitting I have to go to tomorrow after school for the fashion show this weekend. Do you maybe want to come? I mean the fittings are kind of boring, but I know how much you like my Father’s line, and you could see back stage all the outfits for the show. Oh! and his head designers will be there and I could introduce you to them?” 

Marinette slowed down slightly and looked up at him in confusion, her brows slightly furrowed, but said nothing. Adrien had no idea what she was thinking, and he suddenly felt very nervous. The only thing he could think to do was to break the silence with more talk, even though he knew he was making no sense. Why wasn’t she saying anything?!?!

“And maybe, we could get some ice-cream after or something, dinner …. Video games … maybe a movie or …. Or …. Anything else you wanted …. “ he rambled with an increasing amount of panic. 

She stopped completely to look at him. “Adrien, are you inviting me to all this because you feel guilty about what happened on saturday? Because you don’t need to worry ….. “

“No!” Adrien interrupted much too loudly “No” he said again more quietly. He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him in the hallway outside of the class room   
“Guilt has nothing to do with it. okay? We’ve been friends for 4 years Marinette. This whole time I’ve been claiming you as one of my best friends, but I had no idea that you had feelings for me. I feel like an oblivious idiot for not recognizing how you felt earlier. And it made me realize that I didn’t know you as well as I should have” He saw her face soften and sighed in relief that she wasn’t mad at him “I’d really like to fix that, if you’ll let me” he added hopefully

She smiled up at him with a slight giggle “I’ll do you one better, and fix that with you” she playfully poked him in the chest and he laughed, hung his arm around her shoulder and guided her down the hall. 

“So … tomorrow then?” he said hopefully

“That actually sounds amazing, Adrien. Thanks” she smiled

Their class together that morning went by relatively quickly but before too long Adrien started hearing screams and sirens from outside the school. He groaned and got ready to raise his hand to be excused from class when suddenly the lights in the building went off and bars suddenly appeared on the windows and doors of their classroom. All the students in the class rushed to the windows and doors to pry them open, but without any luck. Looking outside Adrien could see all the other buildings in the area had similar bars on their windows and doors.

Adrien started feeling very panicked. He hated being locked up. He stood by the window and focused on taking deep breaths, he closed his eyes and tried to think of a way to get out of this class room so that he could transform.

There was no way in or out of this classroom, there was no sight of ladybug yet and he couldn’t get out to transform and help her against this akuma! He clenched his fists in frustration, and for the first time looked up at his fellow classmates and his teacher. Some were panicking, some sat down at their seats seemingly content to wait for rescue, some were on the phone trying to call for help, while Alya had her phone out livestreaming on the ladyblog. 

Marinette on the other hand, was digging through her bag and pulling out random items. A swiss army knife (why does she even have that?) her phone, some ribbons. He was so confused about what she was doing that he forgot about his own panic and he stopped to watch her. She walked over to the door, examining the lock on the outside of the bars. She had her hands on her hips and looked around the classroom ceiling and then out into the hallway. She nodded once to herself and walked up to Ivan, first whispering something quietly to him and then guiding him over to a corner of the classroom. With far more agility than Adrien would have thought possible, Marinette climbed up onto Ivans shoulders and started unscrewing the air vent in the ceiling. 

“Marinette! What on earth do you think you are doing?” their teacher shrieked, clearly just as surprised as Adrien.

She turned her head innocently towards the teacher and blinked her eyes in a dramatic way that Adrien would have found funny had he not been so concerned at what she was doing. 

“I’m going to go through this air vent, and out the other side and pick the lock on the door so we can get out” she said as if it was the most casual thing in the world. 

“Young lady” the teacher scolded “that is extremely dangerous, it’s best if we wait here for Ladybug and Chat Noir to defeat the akuma. There is no reason for you to go out there”

“No, no, wait!” Adrien jumped up, suddenly seeing a way to escape and transform “its a good idea for us to get out of here” he reasoned with the teacher, then turned towards Marinette “but Marinette, why don’t you let me be the one to go out there ok? It is really dangerous, le me go ok?” 

By this time Marinette had loosened the cover of the air vent and had lowered it to the ground. She got down off of Ivan’s shoulders and put her hands on her hips.

“Look, Adrien. There’s no way you can fit in those air ducts ok? I’m the only one strong enough to lift myself in there, small enough to fit through, and as far as I know, I’m the only one who knows how to pick locks” She looked around at everyone, almost daring anyone to contradict her. 

“The lady’s got a point” Kim smirked and walked over beside Ivan, and put his hands out in front of him to help lift Marinette back up to the vent “going up?” he smiled and hoisted her up above his head. 

Marinette grabbed the ledge of the vent and pulled herself up inside. Adrien felt an odd mix of emotions as he watched her wiggle her way in the vent. Fear for her safety was certainly on the top of the list, with awe and amazement at her bravery and ability to even do this coming in close second.   
In the time it took him to panic about being locked up, she had somehow formed a plan to escape and rescue the rest of the class. He stood at the window of the classroom looking into the hallway up at the vent where he assumed Marinette would be coming out of. Within a minute he saw her hand stick out through the vent and start removing the cover. This time, not letting it fall to the ground, but retrieving it and bringing it back up inside the vent with her. 

Her head popped out next, upside down with her pig tails trailing down under her. She looked up and down the hallway checking to see if the coast was clear before she dropped down to the ground in a crouch.   
Adrien heard Kim snort “Alya, your girl is a beast” he laughed  
“Don’t I know it” Alya replied proudly

Standing up and dusting herself off, Marinette pulled the swiss army knife out of her pocket and rushed up to their classroom door. It only took her a few tries to get the lock open. Adrien had to admit that she looked oddly adorable with her nose scrunched up in concentration and her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth.   
The door popped open and swung wide. Marinette beamed and looked very satisfied with herself as her classmates quietly fled the classroom and down the hallway, most of whom thanked Marinette on the way out, a few of the boys ruffling her hair on their way by. After most of them had left down one hall way Marinette took off running in the opposite direction before Adrien had a chance to speak to her. He felt a nudge to his side and looked over to see Kim smirking at him.

“Everyday ladybug indeed” kim chuckled and ran off after the rest of the class leaving Adrien standing in the hallway alone.

Adrien was in shock. He knew Marinette was amazing, but this was something else completely. Before he had much of a chance to think about it, Plagg emerged from his shirt pocket.  
“Akuma first, think about your girlfriend second” plagg poked him in the forehead “Something tells me Ladybug is already waiting for us”

“Right, right. Plagg, claws out” Adrien shook his head before running out of the school to hop up onto the roof and search for ladybug. 

In the end, the akuma had been a man who had been wrongfully accused of a crime and had been sentenced to jail. He was determined to put everyone in Paris under lock down. Other than putting everyone behind bars he really hadn’t harmed anyone or damaged anything. The fight had been quick and painless and everyone had been back in school before lunch was over. 

He kept trying to find Marinette all afternoon at school, but he didn’t have any classes with her after lunch and he didn’t catch sight of her in the hallway in between. He had no idea why he even wanted to find her. What she did was amazing, but what did he even want to say to her about it? What could he even say at all? He was beyond impressed, but really, he thought to himself, he shouldn’t be surprised. By now he should know that she was capable of pretty much anything and he should stop being so shocked about her abilities. 

At the end of the day he walked towards his waiting bodyguard and car. Out of the corner of his eye he finally caught sight of Marinette running down the stairs of the school and across the street to the bakery. He decided to ignore the fluttering feeling in his stomach when she turned around and he caught sight of her smile.


End file.
